Fifth Business Part Five: Liesl #3,4 and 11 Giuliana, Corina, Mark

Who are you?

3. Character Sketch of Liesl.  Ugly and masculine appearance  Very intelligent and educated  Honest  Intuitive  Business Savvy (autocrat of Eisengrim’s company)

Liesl Mentor Shadow Platonic Ideal

“The person who was speaking to me from the last step of the stairs that led up to the theatre was probably a woman but she wore a man’s dress, had short hair, and was certainly the ugliest creature I had ever seen. Not that she was misshapen; she was tall, straight, and obviously very strong, but she had big hands and feet, a huge jutting jaw, and a happiness of bone over the eyes that seemed to confine them to small, very deep caverns. However, her voice was beautiful and her utterance was an educated speech of some foreign flavour.” ( )

4. What Liesl reveals to Dunstan about himself  Dunstan suffers from a life unlived  Inability to find himself  He is fifth business

“She [Liesl] was a woman of formidable intelligence and intuition: she had a term of improvising and phrasing ambiguous but startling messages that would have done credit to the Oracle of Deplhi.” (200)

11. The Brazen Head illusion  Liesl being the voice of the Brazen Head symbolizes her role in Dunstan’s life  like the Brazen Head, she reveals information about others –not to embarrass them, but to enlighten them

By playing the role of the Mentor, Shadow and Platonic Ideal in Dunstan’s life, Liesl helps him discover his role as Fifth Business.

Questions for the class  1. Relating back to the question we posed at the beginning of the presentation: has anyone helped you figure out who you are, or helped you realize your potential? If so, explain your experience.  2. Is there someone in your life that embodies either the role of the mentor, shadow, or platonic ideal in your life?  3. How significant is Liesl in Dunstan’s life? How do you think she helped shape his character?